Fw: [Peace-discuss] request for your reflection on war

[Randall Cotton]

Hope this is not too late for publication...

Against my hopes, and despite my personal efforts in opposition, our
President has ultimately proven himself so utterly devoid of wisdom that he
has chosen, by himself and against the advice and opinion of the
overwhelming majority of the world populace and their governments, to
initiate an invasion and occupation of a country nearly halfway around the
world which could easily proove to destabilize the entire middle-east,
provoke use of weapons of mass destruction against Americans (our invading
solidiers) and expose Americans to greater risk of terrorism, though these
are all precisely counter to his stated justifications for this war. And his
self-righteous last minute claim that invading Iraq will free its people to
enjoy democracy rings hollow when one examines the dismal record of past
U.S. "regime changes" over the last century, particularly among less
developed nations, where the success rate in effecting democracy this way is
nearly zero, especially when attempted unilaterally. Will the positive
effect of removing Saddam Hussein's exceptionally murderous, tyrannical
regime outweigh the possibly horrific consequences that accompany Bush's
fateful decision? No human can say with certainty, most humans suspect not,
but Bush's decision to force this grand experiment, for better or worse,
will certainly make history. And as Gary Kamiya of salon.com recently wrote
in an elegant, sobering article:

The lesson every government should have learned from the bloody 20th
century, one written in blood across the tortured soil of old, very old
Europe, is very simple: Avoid history at all costs. History is too big, too
abstract, too dangerous. Avoid men with Big Ideas -- especially stupid men
with Big Ideas. Take care of politics: let history take care of itself. In a
word, don't play God.